DRINKING WATER

Thermal reactivation of granular activated carbon is a proven and scalable method to achieve >99.9% destruction removal efficiency for PFAS. This process fully restores the carbon for reuse, providing a sustainable solution that breaks the cycle of "forever chemicals."
DRINKING WATER CASE STUDIES AND WHITE PAPERS
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EPA Researchers Develop Tool To Assess Onsite Non-Potable Water Reuse For Buildings Across The U.S.
Increasing pressure on water resources has led to greater water scarcity and a growing demand for enough clean water. Many communities across the country have initiated, or are in the process of developing, centralized systems for planned water reuse. Water reuse is the concept of intentionally recycling, treating, and reusing alternative water sources. Federal government agencies and the water user community are coordinating their efforts to advance the adoption of water reuse and ensure the security, sustainability, and resilience of water resources. The National Water Reuse Action Plan (WRAP) describes these collaborative actions.
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What Is A Purple Pipe?
For the city of Beaverton, Oregon, the “Beaverton Purple Pipe” is a new water system that routes treated stormwater to irrigate green spaces like parks, school grounds and residential yards.
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AMERICAN Pipe And Valves Ensure Georgia Project Flows With Ease
The estimated $30-million West Side Loop 48-inch Replacement Project is one of three capital projects being conducted by the Cobb County-Marietta Water Authority to provide additional water to western Cobb County and Paulding County in Georgia. For the project, a 48-year-old, 36-inch pre-stressed concrete cylinder pipe (PCCP) that recently failed is being replaced with 48-inch ductile iron pipe.
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Drinking Water Treatment - Coquitlam Water Treatment Plant, British Columbia
In 2005, in response to changes to the Canadian Drinking Water Quality guidelines, the Greater Vancouver Water District Board approved a proposal to upgrade the Coquitlam WTP with UV treatment technology to act as the primary means of inactivation.
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Leveraging AMI To Identify & Repair Leaks In North Miami Beach
Until recently, the City of North Miami Beach relied on traditional walk-up, manual meter reading, and a leak detection service that visited quarterly to survey areas of its distribution system. Surveyors would visit two weeks per quarter, helping city staff systematically go from one end of the 550-mile pipeline system to the other in one-mile sections—it took one and a half years to get through the city’s 25-square-mile service territory. While the city was able to maintain its system and identify leaks, the process was labor intensive and the city understood that automating meter reading and leak detection could be done simultaneously, saving precious time, staff resources, money—and most importantly, water.
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Minimizing Water Outages With Targeted Valve Control
The Town of Holly Springs, NC, used Hydra-Stop's Insta-Valve 250 insertion valves to repair a leak in a transmission line without causing water service outages to over 40 residences. This solution saved the town from widespread outages and other costs associated with a system shutdown, providing better control, cost reduction, and long-term value.
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Santa Barbara, Curaçao Desalination Plant: Six Years Of Operation Of LG Chem Thin Film Nanocomposite (TFN) SWRO Membrane
The Santa Barbara desalination plant located in the south-eastern part of Curaçao provides drinking water to about half of the population of this Caribbean island. With an average precipitation of approximately 500 mm, rainwater is the only natural source of freshwater in the island. Government efforts to address the water shortage problem date back to the 20s of the last century. Initially based on evaporation, the seawater desalination evolved into the reverse osmosis technology in the 90s. After several years of experimenting with RO, Aqualectra, the municipal supplier of potable water and electricity for Curaçao, took the decision to move forward with this technology and in 2003 started a project to build a SWRO desalination plant.
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Profile II Analytical Results, Mine Site Processing
Increasing profitability through efficient tailing and pregnant solution processing.
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Optimizing Leak Detection Using Virtual District Metering Areas (vDMAs)
Today, progressive utilities are using digital technologies to create virtual district metering areas (vDMAs), eliminating the limitations of the physical DMA by utilizing data to provide actionable insights into the condition of their networks.
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City Of Punta Gorda Improves Distribution System Residuals By Installing The Tank Shark® Mixing System In Two Million Gallon Punta Gorda Isles Reservoir
Historic Punta Gorda, located on the shores of scenic Charlotte Harbor on the west coast of Florida prides itself in the proactive management of its water supply. With the responsibility of providing water to over 34,000 customers in the 38 square mile service area, Punta Gorda manages 237 miles of distribution pipe and two water storage facilities. The 1 million gallon (MG) Burnt Store elevated tank and the 2 MG Punta Gorda Isles ground storage tank provide distribution system balance as well as the ability to meet peak demands and fire protection capacity.
DRINKING WATER APPLICATION NOTES
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How To Read An Encoder9/13/2013
The HR-E LCD encoder has a 9-digit Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) to show consumption, flow and alarm information. The display automatically toggles between 9-digit and 6-digit consumption, rate of flow and meter model.
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Improved Efficiencies In TOC Wastewater Analysis For Standard Method 5310B And EPA Method 41510/16/2014Total organic carbon (TOC) measurement is of vital importance to the operation of water treatment due to organic compounds comprising a large group of water pollutants. TOC has been around for many years, and although it is a relatively simple analysis in theory, operational efficiency is paramount.
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Determination Of Pesticide Residues In Honey, By An Automated QuEChERS Solution9/17/2014
The QuEChERS (Quick-Easy-Cheap-Effective-Rugged-Safe) sample extraction method was developed for the determination of pesticide residues in agricultural commodities.
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LC-MS/MS Analysis Of PFAS Extractables In Polyethersulfone Syringe Filters Using EPA 537.15/18/2022
A key consideration for any PFAS method is to avoid contamination that can impact the accuracy of data, including those coming from sample preparation techniques such as filtration.
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FLEX-TEND® Flexible Expansion Joints, Features And Specifications12/3/2020
FLEX-TEND® flexible expansion joints are designed to protect structures and pipelines from differential movement whether this movement is earthquake induced or the gradual motion of soil subsidence. This bulletin offers a concise listing and discussion of the important features and materials of the double and single ball assemblies.
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Irrigation Technology In Agriculture: How New Technologies Overcome Challenges1/29/2019
As the world’s population continues to increase at a fast pace, more food and water will be needed to sustain humanity. In the past 50 years, we have tripled our need for water and food, and there are no signs of this trend slowing down. As a result of these conditions, smart, innovative agricultural practices are needed now more than ever. Technology can, and already does, aid agriculture in innumerable ways. One prominent part of agriculture that can use technological innovation to increase efficiency and effectiveness is irrigation.
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HOD™ (Hydro-Optic Disinfection) UV Water Treatment For Bottled Water3/27/2025
The HOD™ (Hydro-Optic Disinfection) UV water treatment system by Atlantium Technologies represents a groundbreaking advancement in drinking water disinfection, particularly for the bottled water industry.
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Flow Meter Enhances Chlorination System Performance For Municipal Water Department12/12/2017
The water municipality at a mid-size city in the Western region of the U.S. serving a population of about 180,000 people needed to address a chlorine disinfection system problem at one of its water treatment plants.
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'TOTEX' Is Key When Purchasing Instrumentation4/29/2021
There’s a lot to be considered in the price tag of an ultrasonic instrument. Derek Moore from Siemens explains how the historical way of thinking only of capital costs needs to change to the more holistic approach of total expenditures.
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A New Way Of Designing With Reverse Osmosis Membranes7/23/2015
Process design in water treatment is historically confined to proprietary or user-defined spreadsheets on a unit operation basis, with users manually adding results from each unit process upstream into the next operation.
LATEST INSIGHTS ON DRINKING WATER
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The 2024 hurricane season was one of the most severe on record, creating unprecedented destruction to the tune of $182.7 billion worth of damage. Scientists predict that this year's storm season, which officially began June 1, will likely be highly active and volatile as well. As hurricanes become more difficult to accurately predict and prepare for, the damage caused by burst pipes, flooding, downed trees and debris, and disrupted utilities is also increasing.
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How Edison vs. Tesla shapes today's approach to sustainable water systems.
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In the early 2000s, I was consulting for a military contractor on expanding their mobile water treatment system for military applications. As part of that work, I researched other water supply technologies used by the U.S. military, including atmospheric water generation (AWG) — the process of extracting potable water directly from the air.
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Microplastics seem to be everywhere — in the air we breathe, the water we drink, the food we eat. Countries have tried for the past few years to write a global plastics treaty that might reduce human exposure, but the latest negotiations collapsed in August 2025. While U.S. and global solutions seem far off, policies to limit harm from microplastics are gaining traction at the state and local levels.
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Calgon Carbon’s Dr. Angela Rodriguez shares insights on PFAS treatment, regulatory readiness, sustainability, and how innovative carbon technologies help utilities balance compliance, cost control, and environmental goals.
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No one knows more than water utilities how changing climate conditions are impacting the challenges and costs of delivering clean drinking water to communities they serve. In a recent episode of The Water Online Show, climate experts Jesse M. Keenan from Tulane University and Edgar Westerhof of Arcadis discussed the issue of resiliency for drinking water and wastewater systems.
ABOUT DRINKING WATER
In most developed countries, drinking water is regulated to ensure that it meets drinking water quality standards. In the U.S., the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) administers these standards under the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA).
Drinking water considerations can be divided into three core areas of concern:
- Source water for a community’s drinking water supply
- Drinking water treatment of source water
- Distribution of treated drinking water to consumers
Drinking Water Sources
Source water access is imperative to human survival. Sources may include groundwater from aquifers, surface water from rivers and streams and seawater through a desalination process. Direct or indirect water reuse is also growing in popularity in communities with limited access to sources of traditional surface or groundwater.
Source water scarcity is a growing concern as populations grow and move to warmer, less aqueous climates; climatic changes take place and industrial and agricultural processes compete with the public’s need for water. The scarcity of water supply and water conservation are major focuses of the American Water Works Association.
Drinking Water Treatment
Drinking Water Treatment involves the removal of pathogens and other contaminants from source water in order to make it safe for humans to consume. Treatment of public drinking water is mandated by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in the U.S. Common examples of contaminants that need to be treated and removed from water before it is considered potable are microorganisms, disinfectants, disinfection byproducts, inorganic chemicals, organic chemicals and radionuclides.
There are a variety of technologies and processes that can be used for contaminant removal and the removal of pathogens to decontaminate or treat water in a drinking water treatment plant before the clean water is pumped into the water distribution system for consumption.
The first stage in treating drinking water is often called pretreatment and involves screens to remove large debris and objects from the water supply. Aeration can also be used in the pretreatment phase. By mixing air and water, unwanted gases and minerals are removed and the water improves in color, taste and odor.
The second stage in the drinking water treatment process involves coagulation and flocculation. A coagulating agent is added to the water which causes suspended particles to stick together into clumps of material called floc. In sedimentation basins, the heavier floc separates from the water supply and sinks to form sludge, allowing the less turbid water to continue through the process.
During the filtration stage, smaller particles not removed by flocculation are removed from the treated water by running the water through a series of filters. Filter media can include sand, granulated carbon or manufactured membranes. Filtration using reverse osmosis membranes is a critical component of removing salt particles where desalination is being used to treat brackish water or seawater into drinking water.
Following filtration, the water is disinfected to kill or disable any microbes or viruses that could make the consumer sick. The most traditional disinfection method for treating drinking water uses chlorine or chloramines. However, new drinking water disinfection methods are constantly coming to market. Two disinfection methods that have been gaining traction use ozone and ultra-violet (UV) light to disinfect the water supply.
Drinking Water Distribution
Drinking water distribution involves the management of flow of the treated water to the consumer. By some estimates, up to 30% of treated water fails to reach the consumer. This water, often called non-revenue water, escapes from the distribution system through leaks in pipelines and joints, and in extreme cases through water main breaks.
A public water authority manages drinking water distribution through a network of pipes, pumps and valves and monitors that flow using flow, level and pressure measurement sensors and equipment.
Water meters and metering systems such as automatic meter reading (AMR) and advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) allows a water utility to assess a consumer’s water use and charge them for the correct amount of water they have consumed.